A Car Is Born

A Car Is Born

It’s this series that got me into engineering TV. So, it has a special place in my heart and head.

The AC Cobra is, of course, one of the world’s best loved historic cars. And for good reason. It is loud and furious. The pumped-up, muscles-bulging, in-your-face styling of the most familiar Cobras is in such contrast to the smooth, elegant, aerodynamic, superfast E Type. Two cars from the same era that couldn’t look more different. Watching and listening to them compete at Goodwood is a brilliant way to insult your senses.

I chose to build a Pilgrim Sumo replica Cobra mainly because the factory is fairly close at hand and also because the kit is middle of the road, in terms of price. Much of the running gear was salvaged from a Ford Sierra but there was no way I was going to fit a Pinto engine. There’s no point in building a Cobra unless you’re going to slap in a V8. To do anything else would be like filling your toolbox with plastic spanners from Toys’R’Us.

About

I present TV programmes. Not what you might call a ‘proper’ job and not something I ever set out to do. It sort of happened by accident. But it’s not a bad fit for my kind of brain. I am annoyingly curious but have a short attention span.

I struggle with reading – much prefer watching – and I have picked up most of what I now know from observing other people far more gifted than me. It’s taken a while but I think I’ve ended up OK at making the complicated easier to digest.